Reviews (including Doctor Who, 2000AD and other geeky brilliance) and random thoughts from a lifelong Whovian.

Toronto #25

Wow, I am really getting slow at writing these! Once again, things have been fairly quiet overall, although there has been some exciting stuff happening.

Last weekend, I went to a Marlies game, which was pretty good. Especially as the score was 4-0. Quite impressive. Once again, there were quite a few fights that randomly broke out during the game. Yes, hockey is undoubtedly quite the violent sport.

Outside of that, along with work, which is still progressing quite nicely, I’ve still been writing. Not much fictionally, but I’ve been using the journal, at least, which has helped me to work a few things out, on top of writing down a few ideas. I’m also back to writing a few articles for Doctor Who Watch, which I kind of took a break from for a while while I tried to concentrate on other things. The creative writing I’m still continuing with, even in small doses, at least.

Outside of the writing, I’ve also been reading a fair bit. Currently, I’m focusing on Doctor Who: ‘The Witch Hunters’. This was a book that I first read almost twenty years ago, but it’s still one I have a soft spot for. Purely historical (other than the time travellers themselves, of course), and focusing on the Salem Witch Trials, it really is an absorbing read. It’s also a story that, despite its clear period setting, still feels quite present.

This weekend has been interesting. I’ve been able to enjoy a lot on not much money, for one thing. I’ve watched three films, and I’ve only needed to pay for one of them.

The first was the 1983 remake of Breathless starring Richard Gere. It was very, very eighties and not perfect, but it wasn’t without its charm, either. I especially appreciated the use of Jerry Lee Lewis in the soundtrack. It probably says a lot about Quentin Tarantino that he considers it to be one of the “coolest movies” of all time. To be honest, I can’t say I blame him too much. It’s got quite a few faults, but I certainly appreciate any film that takes comic books as seriously as this film does. Best quote:

The Silver Surfer sucks!

I also accidentally checked out the Toronto premiere of the amazing horror movie, The Void. Now, when I say “accidentally”, don’t get me wrong, I had definitely planned on seeing it. Especially since it was Saturday, I had nothing to do, and after seeing a few movies at the Royal, I was able to see a movie of my choosing for free.

So I checked it out, but I didn’t know that it was the first showing in Toronto. So, to my surprise, the writers and directors were there, plus some of the cast and crew. (To those of you who follow my blog on a regular basis, you’d know that this isn’t the first time that this has happened.) It was definitely awesome to see the people who had made this movie actually answering questions from the audience, I must admit.

As for the movie itself? It was pure old-school brilliance. It was very dark, very twisted, and incredibly shocking. It was very reminiscent of movies like Hellraiser, The Evil Dead, plus it had a very strong Lovecraft influence, but it was still able to spin these into completely its own thing. It was also very, very refreshing to watch a horror with a ton of practical effects, particularly the monsters. There was some clear use of CGI in it, but it was for more surreal moments and for glimpses of other worlds than for the monsters. I’ve gotta admit, this is definitely one of my favourite horror movies in recent years, and I’m really impressed by just how daring and refreshing it really is.

The final film that I watched this weekend – this one on a cinema pass, so once again, I didn’t have to worry about paying for it – was Get Out. I’ve gotta admit – it really lives up to the hype. It’s not quite a full blown horror (well, not compared to The Void, but there’s few films quite as openly horrific as that one is), but it’s definitely a great suspense movie. I’ll be honest, I was initially surprised to find out that one half of comedy duo Key & Peele had directed a film like this…until I actually saw it.

Keep in mind, while there’s definitely some moments of awkward humour in it, I’m not saying that this film is a comedy. But it definitely has clear elements of satire, and particularly vicious satire it is, too. These are the kind of stories that I love. It’s why I love Judge Dredd, why I love Black Mirror (which lead actor Daniel Kaluuya had previously starred in an episode of), and why I really loved this film.

What I was really impressed by was how easily it shifted from uncomfortably awkward to suspense, very subtly but very easily, too. “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.” This quote from Charlie Chaplin got me thinking about the storytelling of this film in relationship to how uncomfortable it gets. There are some moments that seem strange, almost ridiculous, and that you can’t help but laugh at. Then there’s other moments when there are extreme close ups that make even a simple conversation difficult to watch. That’s just really good filmmaking, and I can’t wait to see what Jordan Peele will direct next.

(I was going to include a trailer, but then, after watching it again, I have to say: it reveals way too much. So here’s a song from the film’s soundtrack that really creeped me out.)

So that’s my life the past couple of weeks. Hockey, writing, reading, and movies. A pretty nice and geeky couple of weeks. I’ll be honest, I think the next month or so is going to be pretty quiet, for my part. With my birthday coming up in May, I’m going to be avoiding going out and getting drunk to good music too much. Hopefully, I’ll be able to write about more exciting stuff next month. Until next time!